


It's Suzie, She's Baaa-aack

by Rocky_Oberlin



Series: Guardian Ianto series [7]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Episode: s01e08 They Keep Killing Suzie, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 12:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocky_Oberlin/pseuds/Rocky_Oberlin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The glove that Suzie was working with when she died should never have seen the light of day. Too bad Gwen decided to ignore Ianto and his family to try using it to solve the "Torchwood" murders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Suzie, She's Baaa-aack

Ianto flat out told Captain Jack Harkness that he was going with them to see the mysterious scene that DI Swanson called about; he had a bad feeling about what was going on and he wanted to confirm it. The grisly scene definitely spoke to him and Ianto wasn’t a crime scene investigator like some of his brothers. The bloody work over the headboard of the bed was enough to make Ianto want to gag, but he had to see this through. He glanced over at the DI that called him. “It is more than just a message to Torchwood. This is brutality at its worst.”

She glanced at him from her glaring at Captain Jack Harkness while he took over her crime scene. “How do you figure?”

Ianto wanted to rub the back of his neck, but instead shifted his feet to a position that made him feel a little more stable. (Ianto noted absently that it was with his feet hip width apart like that yoga pose his brother Ryan taught him back in the late 70’s.) “The person who did this not only killed the couple and used their blood to write ‘Torchwood’ on the wall over their heads, but he also slashed them after they had their throats cut.”

This time the DI really looked at Ianto. “How can you tell? I never figured that you would have CSU training.”

Ianto sheepishly smiled and said, “I have family who are CSU trained. I picked up a few things from them. I noticed that the other slashes on their bodies are not as bloody as the ones on the throats, so they were losing blood from a major injury and the rest is just bleeding out what was left.”

DI Swanson gave Ianto a speculative look. “If you feel like leaving Torchwood, I would say that with some training you could work in the CSU department.”

“More like the morgue,” muttered Ianto as Owen came in and pushed the body bags into his arms.

“Jack wants to look over the bodies to see if there are any traces that we can use to see who did this,” he announced. DI Swanson’s face went stony and she glared at the blunt medic. Owen just held up his hands and backed away a step. “I’m just relating what I was told. Jack also wants to know what the result from the hair that you found was.” 

“His Nibbs will want the moon next,” muttered DI Swanson and Ianto swallowed a laugh. Even Owen had to hide a smile as Jack walked up to the group to see what the holdup was. He had a grin on his face like he was enjoying a day out and not looking at a murder that was implicating Torchwood.

“Owen, Ianto what’s the hold up? I want to get started on our own investigation so we can clear our name.”

“That will be difficult,” challenged DI Swanson. She looked Jack in the eye and looked like she was about to poke him in the chest. “You drive up to random scenes and take them over like you know what you’re doing. You insult the people who are trying to protect the residents of this city and this country by looking down on them with your ‘above the law’ speech. Well, guess what? I hold you just as responsible for these people’s deaths as the person who killed them.” The smile fell from Jack’s face and turned serious as she called him out on his behavior. “And then you had to hire a wet-behind-the-ears constable who now thinks that she is more than those of us who have worked to get to our positions.” This time she did poke Jack in the chest. “Take Gwen Cooper in hand and teach her how not to get people killed. I know that Ianto has been trying, but she seems to think that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I have seen his record, I know his mission, and I know for a fact that he has seen things that I don’t think I can understand, but I do respect.” She turned from the frowning captain and left him to get an update from the police constables working the scene.

“That was a bit harsh,” commented Jack.

“But warranted,” said Ianto as he slid the top of the dead man into the body bag as Owen moved the lower half. Owen just snorted in agreement, but decided that Ianto can be the only one to get in trouble this time.

“How so?” asked Jack. He had a dangerous look in his eye as he watched the pair pick up the first body bag to take to the SUV.

Ianto looked the captain right in the eye and said, “Gwen has been less than cordial with the police when she talks with them and I have had to smooth the ruffled feathers of the officers she has offended. The information that she brings you is incomplete and I have gone down to the precincts to offer an apology and coffee to find out the rest. It’s meant the life or death of you, Owen, Tosh, and Gwen a few times when you went on the details I gathered. You have a reputation of being difficult to work with, but she has been making Torchwood’s reputation worse. I have been getting some calls from UNIT and Her Majesty’s office to see just what the complaints are about.”

“How come I don’t know about those phone calls?” demanded Jack.

“You usually hang up on them when they start mentioning the complaints. The usual excuse is a Rift alert,” said Ianto as he passed by with the body. 

Jack couldn’t say too much about that; in fact, he couldn’t say too much about what Ianto was telling him. It still made him irritable and it showed in his driving as they returned to the Hub. Ianto was helping Owen bring the bodies in, but he did see the Captain stalk into his office and slam the door shut. Gwen gave him a contemptuous look before starting up the staircase. 

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” said Owen as he pushed the gurney into the autopsy bay.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not you,” said Gwen. “Jack needs me.”

“No, he needs some time to think about the information told to him about the murders with our name on it and some other facts that are disturbing him,” said Ianto.

Gwen just sniffed. “Goes to show what you know.”

Ianto looked at Owen and raised an eyebrow. Owen just shrugged in return and continued to move the bodies to his autopsy bay. Over at her terminal, Tosh frowned at the confrontation between the two lovers (or ex- lovers, she wasn’t sure yet). She wondered if there had been more to the conversation that Jack had with the DI than she or Gwen was privy to. She would have to ask Ianto about it later. She hunched her shoulders when Gwen came stomping out of Jack’s office a minute later with a loud slam of his door. The filthy look she gave to Owen and Ianto showed that there was much more and she wanted to hear about it. May be Gwen was finally getting her reality check.

As a man Torchwood started to look into the deaths of the three unfortunate people who seemed to be random victims of circumstance. It wasn’t until the bright idea of using the glove was bandied about by Gwen that Ianto really stepped in.

“No.”

“But it’s the only way to figure out these murders,” argued Gwen. “I’ve seen you use it before; now it can be of more use this time.”

“That - Thing! - needs to be destroyed and not left in the Secure Archives,” stated Ianto.

“It might help,” offered Tosh. Ianto swung his gimlet gaze on her and she hunched into herself at the dark and forbidding look in Ianto’s eyes.

“She’s right, mate,” said Owen. “We should at least give it a try.”

“And I said no,” snarled Ianto. “That thing is responsible for the loss of four lives already and further investigation by my family says that it should never be put on a human hand ever again. Harm was quite adamant that it should be destroyed. If it ever sees the light of day again, I will destroy it even if it’s on the hand of a coworker.” Ianto raised himself to his fullest height. “That is final,” he spat out before turning and leaving the area. He had other things that might help in the Archives and, if push came to shove, he would recruit his CSI siblings to work with the Cardiff crime lab. Between them and may be Tony, Ianto might be able to keep the body count down to three.

Too bad Ianto didn’t know Gwen decided to try the idea on Jack. She was really persuasive with her guilt trip of how he treated her earlier in the day after they had returned from the crime scene. Tosh had come and mentioned that Ianto said no, but Gwen retaliated by saying that he was just the Teaboy; he didn’t have a say in the matter. Jack relented, but later he would regret ever letting Gwen talk him into using that damn glove. 

Ianto was called when they had already tried talking to the three corpses and all they got was the name “Max” and “Pilgrim”. Jack called over his comm to Ianto, “Ianto, I want you to help Owen get Suzie out of storage. So far the bodies’ told us a couple of names that she was involved with.”

“I’ll be right up,” returned Ianto. The tone of the Captain’s voice and what he said made Ianto suspicious of just what they were doing. Those suspicions were confirmed when he came up with Owen and Suzie’s body to see a forbidding tableau involving Jack, Gwen, and, nominally, Tosh. “Why are we bringing up Suzie?” asked Ianto as they settled her body on the autopsy table.

“Some clues pointed us in her direction,” said Gwen with a smug look. Her hands were behind her back while she was holding the forbidden glove. Ianto was too busy to really pay attention to the rookie, but he did narrow his eyes at Gwen’s stance.

“That was fast police work,” commented Ianto. That stubborn and dreaded thought ran across his mind again and he was almost afraid that they had done what he had told them not to.

“We didn’t use police work,” said Tosh quietly. “We used the glove.”

Ianto turned from the stairs he was going to ascend so fast Tosh was surprised that he didn’t get whiplash. “You what?” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “I specifically said that we were not to use that thing again. It was forbidden by Harm and I’m in total agreement.”

“Well, Harm is not the leader of Torchwood,” said Jack, straightening to his fullest height. “I am and I agree that we should at least try this.”

“No, Gwen seems to be in charge of Torchwood,” snarled Ianto as he came toe to toe and face to face with Jack. “And you just follow along with what she tells you because you seem to be too blind about her faults or are thinking with the other head. You do remember that glove,” Ianto spat out glove like it was a dirty word, “killed four people, one of them being Suzie. It is dark and it does not belong on any human hand.”

Tosh and Owen moved back from the fighting pair, but Gwen, in her self-righteousness, put the glove on and reached for Suzie’s head. Before she could make the glove work to wake Suzie up again, she screamed in pain as the glove was destroyed on her hand by a bolt of lightning. Everyone froze as they tried to find where that bolt came from. 

That is, everyone except Ianto. He turned from Jack and stalked toward Gwen and Suzie. “I don’t care what you think is right, but in relation to the Universal Laws I am the only authority in this organization. If you continue to push the boundaries of the Laws, I will call for a full judgment and I won’t stop my sister from meting out the punishment given,” Ianto growled at Gwen. He turned back to Jack. “If you are the leader of Torchwood, then start acting like it. Gwen should not have gotten her way because she thinks she’s right, thinks that she is the second in command, is the heart of our organization, or is supposed to be our humanity. You knew I had new information regarding that glove and the knife Suzie used with it. You should have consulted me about it before using it.”

“Well, since you have destroyed the only thing that could have helped us, then we will have to depend on police work to find out any more information about these murders,” shouted Jack.

Ianto gave him a dark look and an arched eyebrow. “I assume that you have some information from the other three bodies before you decided to bring out Suzie.”

“Only the name ‘Max’ and ‘Pilgrim’,” said Tosh.

“Then I’m assuming that we will have to start there using old fashioned police work,” said Ianto sarcastically. “If Suzie had anything to do with Pilgrim, then maybe this Max also has some tie to Pilgrim as well. If we can find out where they meet, then maybe we can get a picture or a log of who went.”

“That is logical,” said Owen “How did you get to that assumption?”

“I listen to my police brothers,” said Ianto with a sidelong look at Gwen. “They like to talk about what they do. Right now I would say that it would help us more than using a dangerous object like that dark glove.” Ianto was about to go up the stair to start making phone calls to DI Swanson and PC Davidson about “Pilgrim” and a “Max”, but his attention was drawn to a black shadow that had coalesced and hovered by Gwen and the body of Suzie. Ianto narrowed his eyes as everyone waited for him to leave, but they were puzzled by his staring at the space between the rookie and the body. Ianto suddenly moved as he tried to grab Gwen away from where she was standing, but he was too late; the shadow that he was tracking flowed into Suzie, but a part of it had crept up Gwen and was seemingly absorbed by her right hand that had worn the glove. Ianto let out a sharp oath in Welsh that startled Gwen into movement away from him and closer to Jack as if the captain would protect her from the angry Welshman.

The team was startled by Suzie taking a gasp of air and sitting up from the autopsy table. She vocalized the momentary confusion that Ianto had witnessed with the dead bodies that Suzie had used for her experiments before she settled into accepting that she was “alive” once more. She looked around at each of the horrified looks on each of her teammates’ faces except for Ianto and the annoying PC that had been hanging around before she killed herself. The new girl had a pleased look on her face, but Ianto had a dark, stormy look on his face that was uncharacteristic from her memories of the Torchwood butler. She made the assumption that something had changed after her death.

“Why did you bring me back?” she asked mockingly. “Miss me that much?”

“No,” said Jack, shaking himself from the strange foreboding feeling that had descended on him when Suzie rose from the table. “We need information about who Max is and what is Pilgrim.”

“You brought me back for Max?!” Suzie sounded outraged, but Ianto wasn’t sure that she wasn’t hiding something. “You brought me back because of that loser?”

“He’s killed three innocent people,” said Gwen. “And we need to stop him from killing more.” She moved toward Suzie and gave a smile like they were the best of friends. 

Suzie gave Gwen a contemptuous look as she looked at her teammates. Tosh wasn’t meeting her eyes and looked like she wanted to get away. Owen had a mulish scowl on his face that made her think that maybe he regretted the affair they had before she took up the glove. “Regretting our affair, Owen?” she purred. “Or do you wish that we had kept it up.”

“No,” Owen said. “I’m wondering how I missed that you were a cold-blooded killer when we were together.” He turned from Suzie and left the bay. Tosh’s face fell and she quickly she left for her computer system.

Suzie seemed pleased over driving away the pair, but she was puzzled about why Ianto was still staring at her like he was looking for something. She could understand why Jack and Gwen were still here, but Ianto should have been shooed off to make coffee or file papers away. “Why are you still here Ianto? Wishing that I had paid you more attention?”

Ianto shook his head. “No, I’m watching what brought you back, Suzie. And I’m studying how I’m going to get rid of the possessing entity.” He smiled grimly at the resurrected woman. “I am more than you first realized, but I kept it hidden; but you knew that already because you have been told that I’m dangerous. Right?”

Suzie was startled by what Ianto said. He was right that she knew that he was more dangerous than her old boss, but she wondered if the Teaboy knew that she as now connected to Gwen. Suzie hoped not; at least not until it was too late. Ianto bore watching; he became a more dangerous and an unfamiliar variable in her equation of personal revenge. Until she could get out, she had to convince Jack and Gwen that she was helpless.

Jack watched the byplay and had some questions for his Archivist, but he wanted to ask them away from Suzie. For now he just wanted to stop Max from killing anybody else. “Ianto take Suzie down to the interrogation room. I want to ask her about Max and how we can stop him.” Ianto nodded and motioned Suzie to get up.

“Why are you so worried about a trained ape, Jack? Max is harmless.” Suzie gave a smirk. “That is unless you belong to Pilgrim.”

Ianto gave her a disgusted look. “I’ll talk to our police contacts about what they found on Pilgrim,” he told Jack as he walked Suzie up the stairs. “They might have something that we can use.”

After Suzie was safely installed in the interrogation room with a scarf Tosh gave to Ianto to wrap around Suzie’s head, he went to his small desk in the main Hub and started on his phone calls. A pleasant conversation with DI Swanson revealed to both the information that they needed to find out more on the dead bodies. Ianto waited patiently for a return phone call, since the police had found the fliers in the dead married couple’s bedroom closet. His patience was rewarded and the perpetrator for the grisly murders was arrested quickly when he was found going after another of the Pilgrim attendants at her job. Ianto thanked the officer who returned his phone call and climbed up the stairs to the interrogation room.

Ianto watched the interaction between Jack and Suzie for a few minutes before he interrupted them on the intercom. “Jack, our police contacts have picked up a man by the name of Max Brenner. He was in a club and stalking a young lady who also attended Pilgrim. He was apprehended and is now in police custody.”

“Good. Thanks, Ianto.” Ianto saw Jack turn to smile at Suzie. “Looks like we just have to pick up your friend to see just what thoughts are going on in his head; I think that you will be staying here for a bit until we can get some information from Max.”

“If you don’t need me at the moment, do you think that you could let me see my father?” asked Suzie in a sugary sweet wheedling voice. “He was dying and I want to see him one last time.”

Ianto didn’t see Jack’s face, but he did hear Jack tell Suzie, “I don’t think so. You are technically dead and I don’t want you out of the Hub. I have this feeling that there is more than I can see and I want to consult with my experts before we let you go anywhere.”

Suzie pouted. “Then can I have something warm? I’m freezing.”

Jack nodded. “I’ll have someone bring something down.” As he left Ianto thought he heard Suzie mutter “don’t do me any favors” to Jack’s back, but he wasn’t sure. Ianto had to hurry to his desk as another phone call caught his attention. He nodded his head even though DI Swanson couldn’t see him. He asked if they could have Max Brenner when they were finished processing the man to see if any of their alien tech could also give them evidence as to why he went on the sudden murder spree. 

When Jack arrived at the main floor, he yelled, “Gwen, set up a tray for Suzie; don’t want her to complain that we are poor hosts. I’ll take it down to her when I’m finished.” Ianto was sure that Gwen wasn’t happy with the order, but he was too busy finishing a phone call with the police on the status of their suspect in the murders.

Jack waited for Ianto to finish with his phone call with the DI impatiently. “Well,” he asked.

Ianto hung up the phone and turned his chair to face Jack. “They will be processing Max for evidence of the murders, and then they will let us take him. Right now, anytime someone says Torchwood he goes into a frenzied rage for a minute then settles down again. He’s not saying anything and doesn’t do anything while they get samples from him.”

“When will they be done though?” asked Jack. “I had thought that they would have given him to us right away.”

Ianto looked Jack in the eye. “I told them to get what they needed from Mr. Brenner before letting us come get him. They are the ones who have to see if they have a serial killer or not. We just want to see if it was the Retcon that made him the monster or if it was already in him.” Jack looked ready to argue the point, but Ianto headed him off. “I know that we are beyond the police, but we still need to cooperate with them. This would be a good will gesture that may bring us up in their reckoning a bit.”

Jack huffed out a breath. “Fine, but I want him here by 7:00 tomorrow morning.” Ianto thought that Jack had a rather petulant look on his face while making that concession.

“I’ll see to it personally, sir,” said Ianto with a blank face.

Jack gave him the “see that you do” look and went up the stairs to the pantry. Ianto figured that Gwen had not followed his exact instructions because Jack had stalked up to the interrogation room intercom and barked, “Gwen, I told you I didn’t want you anywhere near Suzie. Get up here and finish your reports that you’ve been neglecting. I have Ianto getting on me about needing to get the files put away and he can’t because of the hold up.”

The reply wasn’t heard by the rest in the Hub, but Gwen must have said something because Jack crossed his arms and asked, “What did you say to Suzie?”

“I just told her to be well,” said Gwen. “I didn’t know if you were going to let me see her again.”

“And I don’t want you to see her again. There is more to this and I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire,” said Jack. “Now please get those reports done.”

Gwen went off meekly and settled at her desk. It looked like she was working on her backdated reports, so Ianto turned away from Gwen’s desk to work the report for this particular case. A phone call interrupted his work; the person on the other end was a pleasant surprise. He chatted pleasantly with his brother in stationed in London in Welsh to keep his private life private. He didn’t notice Gwen was listening in on his conversation. When he finished, he went up to Jack’s office to tell him about the news Harm had given him about the shadow he had reported seeing to his elder brother. When he was called in, Ianto closed the door to keep the business private.

“Jack, we have a problem.”

Jack looked up from his expense reports and focused on Ianto. “In what way?” he asked.

“I spoke with my family and Harm said that because I saw the dark shadow, then I didn’t stop the progress in time. Right now, Gwen is dying and Suzie is coming back to life. If we had used the knife, then the process would have been faster, but because we didn’t get that far it is slow going. We need to take the shadow out of both women so Suzie can go on to her rest and Gwen can continue to live.”

Jack put his elbows on the desk to steeple his fingers. “How do we do that?”

Ianto looked him in the eye as he said, “I have to pull it out. I will need a soul container to put it in, but Harry will be leaving one in the Tourists Office. When I’m done, it will be sealed and Steve will drop it in a volcano next time he’s on leave. It will destroy the container and the shadow with it.”

“How does that work? You would think that the shadow would be free once the container is gone.”

Ianto shook his head. “It must be attached to something in order to survive. I destroyed the glove, but there were shards of the glove in Gwen’s hand, so it was nominally already attached to Gwen and Suzie. Now, I have to see if Harry found something suitable for me to use. Keep an eye on Gwen; I think that she’s planning something.”

“How do you know?” asked Jack.

“I know everything,” said Ianto with a bland look. He turned to leave the office.

“Ianto, I’m sorry about this whole mess.”

“So am I, Jack; I should have insisted that we get rid of that thing long before now.”

“I don’t know if I would have, though.”

Ianto looked over his shoulder. “I do know the combination to the Secure Archives. I could have taken care of it long before, but I didn’t. I hoped that Tosh and Owen would have at least tried to talk you out of the idea of using the glove, but I guess that Gwen was too persuasive.”

“Another report in her file?” asked Jack.

“No, this time it’s a different warning. This is Universal Laws that she was coming close to breaking. She will be on probation out of respect for you, but if she tries something like this again, she will be Judged.”

“I’ll warn her when I talk to her,” promised Jack.

“But will she listen?” asked Ianto. Then he was gone from the door. Jack hoped that this was going to be the last of this, but he didn’t think that the trouble was going to end anytime soon.

In retrospect from a future time, he was VERY right.

Ianto found an ugly looking bottle waiting for him on the Tourist Office desk with a note saying that his friend wanted to get rid of it for a long time and this was a good reason. Ianto was going to have to find something nicer to give to Harry’s friend to replace the one that will be sacrificed for the good of the world. He pocketed the bottle and returned to the Hub to see Gwen trying to get to the interrogation room again. This time Owen was holding Gwen up while Tosh waited at her desk like she was a cover for Owen if he couldn’t stop Gwen. It was more evident that Tosh had a stun gun hidden in her lap, but Ianto hadn’t seen it from his upper perspective and he figured that Gwen couldn’t either. That was good.

“Owen, could you have Gwen come down to the Med Bay for an exam. I was concerned when I thought I saw something when she was bringing Suzie back from the dead. I need to get Jack, and then I will meet you there.”

Owen looked at Gwen. “You heard the Teaboy; to the Med Bay.”

Gwen looked like she was going to balk, but Tosh walked up. The stun gun wasn’t visible, but she was very capable of helping Owen wrestle Gwen to the Bay if she had to. Gwen didn’t know that, it seemed, but she at least went to the Med Bay, even if it was like a child in a strop. Ianto and Jack, looking a bit pale and in some discomfort, came down a minute later and Jack directed Owen to put the heart monitor on Gwen.

“Going to be doing something with Miss PC?” asked Owen.

Ianto looked up from the bottle in his hand. “Yes, I am. I have to separate a shadow from Gwen’s soul.”

Owen looked in askance and wondered if he had the wrong person on the table. Even Tosh looked a bit disbelieving, but Gwen full out laughed. “You plan to do what? Jack, are you hearing this? Ianto is even crazier than we thought. He should be sectioned instead of working here. He might kill us one day and no one would be the wiser.”

Jack shook his head. “No Gwen, Ianto isn’t crazy. He is quite capable of doing exactly what he says he’s going to do.”

“How do you know?” asked Owen. He had a couple of restraints ready in case Gwen tried to escape.

“He showed me.” Jack shuttered. “It’s an experience that I don’t want to happen again.”

Ianto looked sad. “It is a painful process to a person who isn’t ready to die. The rest of the time, we only pull the malignant entity out of a person. My sister has a more delft hand at it than I do, but Harm and I are able to do it.”

“What about your other brothers?” Tosh asked quietly.

“They are able to do other things,” said Ianto. “The soul is a lot like the wind. You know it’s there, but you can’t see it. Grabbing it is like grabbing a breeze. Though a soul doesn’t cut your hands when you hold it like the wind does.”

“How do you know that?” asked Owen.

“I’ve had to do it a few times.” Ianto looked pained for a moment before he became businesslike. “Right, Gwen, this might hurt a bit, but I need you to stay still. I hope this won’t take too long because Suzie will be next and she has much more of the shadow than you do.”

Ianto can’t describe exactly what working with a soul is like, but he does know that he had to take a half step out of the living world to the world where the wind had a visible form. It twisted and turned, changing shape as it went around him, but he wasn’t interested in a ride this time. No, this time he was looking at a colleague’s soul and the darkness that was wrapping around it. He knew her shape and form, but the shadow was distorting Gwen’s soul and it was starting to darken around the edges a little. Ianto didn’t think that her short time here had changed her too much, so he was able to start the process of extracting the shadow from Gwen. The whole process took 15 minutes, but it was the longest, hardest 15 minutes he had experienced in a long time. It was almost like waiting for the perfect shot on a target with a sniper rifle. It took patience and a lot of will not to rush and be done with it.

Ianto fed the shadow into the bottle and corked it with the stopper before stepping back from Gwen. “It’s finished,” he told Owen. “Was there any complications?”

“Her heart sped up before almost stopping for a moment and her blood pressure dropped suddenly before stabilizing again,” Owen reported. “But her other vital signs were stable. What happened?”

“Suzie was feeding off of Gwen’s life,” said Ianto. He studied Gwen, but her angry look at him convinced him that she was fine. “I had to separate the two while getting the shadow. It was the link between the both of them that was bringing Suzie back and now I think that she will have a problem because I separated Gwen’s and Suzie’s life force.”

“But Suzie’s still here,” said Jack.

Ianto nodded. “It’s holding her here. The moment that I take the shadow out of her, Suzie will be dead again. If anyone has anything to say to Suzie before she goes, please say it quickly. I can’t wait too long. That shadow might try to latch on to another person, like you Jack. Then it will be very difficult to get rid of.”

Tosh and Owen looked like they wanted to say goodbye to Suzie, but then they changed their minds. Gwen wanted to tell Suzie that she had wanted to get Suzie to her father, but the blackout Suzie was expecting had not happened. Jack just stood there looking at Ianto. “Are you ready?” Jack asked.

“Yes.”

Jack followed Ianto up to the interrogation room and waited at the window. He wanted to be ready in case Ianto needed help, but he didn’t want to be near a desperate being that wanted to live; something like that could try anything. A thought occurred to Jack and he turned on the intercom. “Hey, Ianto, what if it tries taking you over?”

Ianto looked up from the stairs and smiled. “It can’t,” was all he said.

Jack settled back and nodded to Ianto. The Storm Master had his trust to be able to protect himself and the rest of Torchwood. Ianto smiled at Suzie and said, “I’ve come to let you finally get your rest.”

A flash of relief ran across her face before it changed to the haughty look. “Really? I’ve been attached to Suzie for a long time. Her soul remembered me when the glove was brought back into contact with her body. How do you know she won’t fight you?”

“Because I know Suzie wants to go to her rest as much as you want to live.” Ianto once more entered the realm of the wind and started the long process of separating the shadow from a bitter and cynical woman. Owen was just as bitter and cynical, but Suzie was also disillusioned about life. The entity of glove had preyed on that disillusionment to make her a perfect vessel for it to be a powerful being once more after being ripped from its previous bearer and lost to Time and Space. This time it was an hour before Ianto moved from his place and he caught Suzie’s body before it hit the table.

“Is it done?”

Ianto looked up at the window. “It’s done. Steve will stop by later to pick up the bottle.”

Jack nodded before he left his post. “Owen,” he called on the comms. “Ianto needs help putting Suzie back in the morgue. Come help him.”

“Right,” returned Owen.

Ianto smiled softly at Owen as he came down with a stretcher to carry Suzie’s body up the stairs. Neither one said a word about the woman or the situation that had past. They just quietly and reverently put a colleague back in her drawer before leaving the morgue. Owen left to go to a pub; Tosh went home to remember the happier times with Suzie. Gwen was ordered by Jack to go home and be with Rhys. Ianto disappeared before he could be told to leave for the night. Jack found him filling out the paperwork for Suzie’s re-internment.

“I should be doing that,” he said.

Ianto shrugged. “This way, it’s done and out of the way,” he said.

“What are you going to say killed her,” asked Jack.

Ianto looked up. “I could say Death by Torchwood, but that isn’t true. It’s more like death by Universal Law.”

“Is that what killed her?”

“No, she died from a gunshot wound to the head.”

“Both times?”

“She wasn’t really alive the second time; just reanimated.”

Jack winced. “So, the shadow died from the Universal Laws.”

“Yes.”

“You sound tired.”

Ianto looked up. “I am. It’s very hard to do an extraction around a soul. Two can wear a body out.”

“Then why didn’t you leave with the others?”

“Because you need some comfort as well.” Ianto stepped closer to Jack. “I know you blame yourself for the loss of Suzie and the almost loss of Gwen. Suzie chose her own path and didn’t come to you for help, so you couldn’t know until it was too late. I had a bad feeling, but nothing concrete to base it on so I could give you a believable warning. You had faith in a long time friend and a vague suspicion of an employee of Yvonne Hartman. Suzie’s death was at her own hand and there was nothing you could have done to stop it. Gwen is just being her stubborn self. I know you admire her for her tenacity, but she has to know when to toe the line. On that, you have been a bit lax. Gwen almost dying from the life exchange was all her doing though. I had told her not to use the glove and I had told her the consequences of using it. That is all on her and not you. You, Jack, are more of a benevolent father giving in to his youngest child’s spoiled whims.”

“That’s a bit less harsh, but still it stings.”

“I’m not sorry. I’m just calling it as I see it.”

“Hmm.” Jack paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “You know, you once told me that if I wanted to see your human partner, I had to look in the mirror. All I saw was my reflection. Am I your partner?”

Ianto stepped closer until he was nose to nose with Jack. “Yes.” Then he turned and walked away. “If you want a good breakfast in the morning, then you can stay at my flat if you want,” Ianto called over his shoulder.

Jack liked the sound of that; especially the idea of having Ianto’s coffee before everyone else.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to the people who read my offerings and send a kudos or a review my way. It makes my day to have a message in my e-mail saying that you are enjoying what is coming from my imagination. I'll try to get them out quicker, but my editing process includes me letting it sit and then read through it again. Let's just say that "Shoes" is going to be very difficult since it was so specific to Gwen.


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